Gas torch lighter



GAS] TORCH LIGHTER Filed Feb. 25, 1949 INVENTOR. fiennefh H. Black QMvM ATTOANE Y3 Patented Mar. 28, 1950 UNITED STATES ..-.PA.TEN T OFFICE Kenneth H. Black, Port Clinton, Ohio Application February 25, 1949, Serial No. 78,413

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to means for lighting a gas burning torch by pressure engagement therewith of the torch nozzle.

The object of the invention is the provision of an improved device of this character that is simple and inexpensive in construction and easily operable to cause a heavy sparking and to light a gas emitting from a torch nozzle by merely applying a quick downward thrust of the torch nozzle in an easy natural manner against a movable part of the device.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and from the accompanying drawings, illustrating one embodiment of the invention, in Which- Fig. 1 is a top perspective view of a device embodying-the invention showing, in dotted lines, a torch nozzle applying a gas lighting movement thereto; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device with the parts in normal position; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 in Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a view similar to that of Fig. 2 with the movable flintcarrying member depressed slightly from normal position by applied pressure of an indicated torch nozzle.

Referring to the drawings, l designates the body member of the device that is preferably stamped from sheet metal and provided, in the present instance, with openings 2 for receiving screws to facilitate attaching to a bench or other suitable support. This member is shown as hav ing a flat bottom plate 3 for resting on a suitable support, a side flange 4 rising from a side edge of said plate near its forward end, and an end flange 5 rising from the rear end of the plate and terminating in a forwardly extending lip 6. A steel bar 1 having a rough outer face similar to a file surface is secured in upright position to the inner side of the flange 4, in the present instance being held thereto by inwardly struck loops 8 on the flange.

A pressure plate I0 extends forward, preferably on a slight upward incline from the rear flange lip 6, and is attached thereto by a suitable spring means which serves to normallyhold the plate in yielding elevated position, as shown in Fig. 2. The spring attaching means preferably comprises flat spring metal strips ll (suitably fixed to the under sides of the up 6 and plate H1, as by rivets I2, and extended a considerable distance forward on the plate with the plate attaching rivets near their forward ends. This facilitates the flexing action of the springs and 55 distributes such flexing over substantially the full:length of the metal strips so that it is not subject to any considerable flexing at any point, even should the plate It be pressed down to the bottom plate 3. This manner of mounting the plate I!) also causes the outer end of the pressure plate to move more nearly in a straight vertical line when depressed.

A flint-holding tube I4 is fixed crosswise to the, under side of the pressure plate It] with one end opening at a side edge of the plate in register with the exposed side of the striking bar I. A, flint I5 is slidingly mounted in this tube and has an end projecting therefrom in position to have frictional engagement with the bar i as the plate II] is depressed and raised. The flint I5 is forced outward against the bar 1 by a plunger IS in the tube 14, and this plunger is engaged at its outer end and yieldingly forced inward by a spring I1 carried by the plate I 0 at its under side.

The spring I! is preferably of spring wire with its free end portion bearing inward against the outer end of the plunger [6, with its intermediate portion coiled around a downwardly projecting stud on the plate 10 and with its rear end portion anchored tothe plate near its rear end.

In an operation of the device, it is positioned in a convenient place on a bench or other support adjacent a point where a gas torch is to be used, so that a downward swinging of a torch nozzle, indicated by dotted lines in the drawing, will strike and quickly depress the pressure plate 10 and cause the flint l5 to move down along the striker bar 1 and emit sparks to light the gas discharging from the nozzle. When the pressure plate In is relieved of the nozzle pressure, it will return to its normal raised position by the action of the springs H.

I wish it understood that my invention is not limited to any specific construction, arrangement or form of the parts, as it is capable of numerous modifications and changes without departing from the spirit of the claim.

Having thusdescribed my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters; Patent, is:

In a device or; the class described, a body plate having a flan'gerflprojecting from a side edge thereof substantially normal to the plate and a second fiangegprojecting from an end of the plate, a strikenba'r carried by said first flange at its inner side, a pressure plate carried by and projecting from said second flange in normally spaced relation to and yieldingly movable toward said body plate in a plane parallel to and lengthwise of said striker bar, a tube carried by REFERENCES CITED said pressure plate crosswise thereof near its free end, a flint mounted in said tube and adapted The followmg references are of record In the project from an end thereof in position to have fi of this Patent: frictional engagement with said striker bar when th 1 t t d d 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS e pressure p a e 1s reclproca e an spring means carried by the pressure plate and operable 35:? 4 4 Name t 9 5 to exert a yielding outward pressure against the I Malmquist sap 13, 1 4

flint.

KENNETH H. BLACK. w 

